Nice welcome Troyes to the Allianz Riviera in Round two of the new Ligue 1 season on Friday night, as both teams search for a first league win of the season.
OGC Nice
After finishing third in the standings last season in France, Nice made it through to the play-off stage of Champions League qualifying with a two-leg victory over Dutch giants Ajax recently. However, Lucien Favre and his players were brought back down to earth with a bump over the weekend, with Nice suffering defeat to St Etienne in their opening Ligue 1 encounter. Without star striker Mario Balotelli, who was ruled out of the fixture with a hamstring injury, Nice were unable to match their performances of last season. However, with the Italian potentially returning to action against Troyes, Nice will be confident of collecting a first three points of the new campaign, with their opponents having only recently bounced back from Ligue 2 in France. Meanwhile, Dutch legend Wesley Sneijder could make his debut for the club, having signed earlier on in the week.
Troyes
Troyes will have been happy with an opening weekend point at Rennes last weekend, with the team who gained promotion to Ligue 1 via the play-offs last season hoping to make a name for themselves at the Allianz Riviera on Friday night. Despite not having any of the star names found on the Nice team, Troyes can count upon a mixture of youth and experience, typified by club captain Benjamin Nivet, who is still playing at the age of 40. Manager Jean-Louis Garcia, who took over at Troyes back in 2016, led his side to promotion at the first chance of asking, and will be looking to improve his reputation with some strong performances in Ligue 1, starting at Nice. It may well be worth waiting to the very last minute before placing a bet, with Troyes reportedly working on a whole host of transfer deals ahead of the match.
Head to Head
The two teams have met on 10 occasions in the past, with Nice having collected five wins and three draws from such fixtures. Having last met in Ligue 1 during the 15/16 French football campaign, Nice beat Troyes 2-1 at home, having previously battled to a 3-3 draw at the Stade de l’Aube.
Betting Odds and Predictions
Games between Nice and Troyes have a habit of producing a huge amount of goals, with 15 goals finding the back of the net in the last five encounters between the duo. As a result, those looking to place a bet on the match should check out goal markets, which include backing over 2.5 goals to be scored, which can be found at best odds of 9/10 at Ladbrokes.
Elsewhere, given Nice’s strong home form over the last 12 months, backing Lucien Fuvre’s men to keep a clean sheet could also be worth looking at, with Ladbrokes also offering odds of 11/10 on this market. Despite not meeting in the League last season due to Troyes’ relegation, Nice have not lost a domestic encounter to Troyes since 2006.
Top Betting Tip
Despite some attractive looking deals elsewhere, our top betting tip is to back Nice to collect all three points against Troyes, which can be found at best odds of 8/15 at SkyBet.